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  SOUL OF AN EAGLE

  by

  Ed Skinner

  About Randor

  Randor is a planet in orbit around a star that is slightly larger than our own Sol. The planet is around fifty percent smaller than Earth and its orbit is larger, giving it considerably lighter gravity, a twenty eight hour day and a year that encompasses 412 of those days making a solar year on Randor equivalent to 1.31 years on earth. This would make a child of eight on Randor equivalent to one of ten and a half earth years old. A child of twelve would be almost sixteen and a fifteen year old would be nearly twenty.

  The time of these novels is some twenty thousand years into our future. Perhaps ten thousand years earlier, during a golden age of space exploration, Earth colonized this planet, seeding it with the most successful plants and animals extant at that time but interplanetary war disrupted trade and eventually cut Randor off with contact from Earth. Local events put the planet into a dark age which caused much of the science and culture brought from earth to be lost. Then, with the creation of the Metallurgy and Mining Guild, scientific experimentation began to bring them back toward a more developed world. At the time of these stories, most of the planet was still in the throes of the bronze age but, the people of the Confederation of Craters were just emerging into the iron age.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The sun was just coming up over the west rim of the crater. The boy sat straddling the ten foot wall just upslope from the Guardsmen's Barracks. He was small for his age, wiry with jet black hair. Slowly, he turned his head from right to left. On this clear, bright morning, the complete panoply of the crater was visible to him from this high perch. Even the grey-blue peaks of some of the surrounding mountains could be seen, a few capped with eternal snows at the highest elevations.

  To his right, the regular patchwork of cultivated fields, sparsely dotted with houses, barns and small cottages and occasionally broken by orchards and copses of trees, sloped gently and evenly down toward the huge lake at the center of the great, fertile, forty mile wide crater that had been called Washington since a time before men could remember. The lake was at its highest now due to recent rains and the town seemed to huddle on its southern shore, sprawling over a mile in length and some three quarters of a mile up the southern slope.

  Washington was situated close to the equator and, while bananas, sugar cane and citrus fruits could be grown close to the lake, wheat, barley, oats, apples and other fruits were cultivated at the higher, cooler elevations closer to the rim.

  As his gaze swung around to the west, he could just make out the slight crack on the horizon that represented West Pass. Behind him, to the southeast was Maryland Pass, the only other break in the, otherwise impassable, barrier wall of the ancient crater. It was this wall that defined his small, safe and boring world. It provided safety for the farmers, artisans and politicians from the ravages of the fierce nomadic tribes that roamed the wild lands outside.

  As his gaze extended around to the left, it followed the rim of the crater to the Aerie perched just below the rim halfway between the two passes. Just as the Barracks were the home of the Home Guard, the ground bound portion of their defense force, the Aerie was the home of the Eagle Riders.

  Kit turned eight years old today but there was no comfort in the fact. There had been a time when he had looked forward eagerly to this date. That was back when Mother was alive. Kit's mother was Fala, daughter of Jaron and a fifth generation Eagle Rider. Fala had always said that she would nominate Kit as a fledgling Eagle Rider when he turned eight. He had looked forward to it with relish until the day, just over two years ago, when Fala had died.

  The tradition of Eagle Rider was strong in their family and Fala had been proud of it. She had been proud, too, of her older brother, Kittron, who had preceded her into the Aerie a year before she, herself, had fledged. His death in a training accident, just weeks before she was to test in advance maneuvers, had been the family tragedy that had doomed Kit's happiness on this day. Kit wanted to be an Eagle Rider more than anything in the world but now it would never happen.

  The Eagle Riders were the traditional eyes of the Home Guard. Randor was a small planet. Its low gravity had given some special advantages to the terrene life forms which had colonized it in the dawn of time. A boy could easily leap twenty feet, a man could top thirty. Heavy loads were an easy matter for even the weakest of women. Their small ponies could sustain a speed of sixty miles per hour for an hour or more and the giant eagles they had bred from the original terrene form could actually carry a small boy or girl of up to about one hundred fifty pounds upon its back.

  The human population of this planet had early broken into two distinct major groups, the farmers and the nomads. Most of the history and the technology of the earlier, Golden Age of Randor had been lost and forgotten for eons. The nomads, still in the Bronze Age, had, for thousands of years, become a savage, warlike people preying even upon other nomad tribes. They followed the migrations of vast herds of native and introduced grazing animals and attacked all weaker groups of humans that they happened upon. Only twelve known communities remained among the farmers. These had been established in large craters, common on Randor, with high barrier rims having only a few, easily defended passes.

  Kit stared longingly at the grey walls of the Aerie and thought of the fleeting dream he had harbored of training and working there. From his mother, he had learned all about that lifestyle. Small, lightweight boys and girls with the necessary telepathic talent to talk to birds of prey began training at the age of eight. Within the next year, depending on their abilities, they graduated from fledgling to battle ready status.

  The new students must first master the use of the safety wing, a foldable hang glider, which all Eagle Riders wore on their backs. They were used as both a parachute in case a Rider is unseated in midair and as a landing device for older, heavier Riders. At the age of ten or more, depending on relative size, a rider would naturally reach a weight that would be too much for the fragile bones in the back and legs of an eagle to bear during the stress of landing. In order to prevent paralyzing or killing their mounts, older riders practiced separate landings. They would dive off their eagles' backs in midair, deploying their wings and glide to a landing followed closely by their birds.

  Once he has mastered the use of the safety wing, the student must impress his bird. As was mentioned earlier, the students had already proven their telepathic abilities. These were tested using one of the many falcons trained by the Master Falconer and his apprentice Falconers. The small birds were given a "general" impression, having many humans communicate with them from their birth. They were used as messenger birds and were trained to obey anyone of authority. Eagles, however, except for the special tow eagles, were impressed to only one Rider in their twenty to thirty year life span. This established a telepathic bond from the Rider to his eagle that the bird became dependent upon. If a Rider died prior to his impressed mount, the bird always stopped eating and died in short order, his desire for life depleted.

  Eagle Riders had two traditional functions in the defense of their home craters. First, they mounted a patrol of the passes and the wild lands outside of them, watching for nomad activity and concentrations. Secondly, in the event of an invasion attempt by a nomad tribe, they flew in a battle team, collecting and signaling vital tactical information to a red helmeted relay messenger on the ground behind the defending Guardsmen who would verbally direct the defensive formations needed to repulse each new attacking wave of nomad warriors.

  Recent events had changed the lot of the Eagle Rider considerably. The glider wing, devised by Naturon of the Metallurgy and Mining Guild and Piperon, Eagle Rider from McAllister Aerie, had allowed senior Riders a longer period of
service. Instead of having to retire in their mid-teens, they could become Glider Riders, using their eagles or a "generally" impressed tow eagle to tow them under the larger, glider wing to a thermal where they could gain the altitude necessary to soar for hours at a time. Furthermore, the aerial bombs, also developed by Nat McAllister, had given the Glider Riders teeth to bite their nomad opponents during a battle.

  These new weapons, combined with the iron swords, spears, armor and crossbows recently developed by Master Zolfon, leader of the Guild whose headquarters were in McAllister crater, had given the crater communities some relative security in the last six months. The nomads had been around since the native herds had returned less than a year ago but, after the disastrous invasion attempt on McAllister, no other crater had suffered more than minor harassment by the warlike tribes.

  This was all so exciting to a small boy except that Kit could no longer be a part of it. Fala had explained to him while on her deathbed. The death of her brother all those years ago had deeply affected her mother. Kit's grandmother had wasted away just months after the death of his uncle. The dual losses in such quick succession had turned Kit's Grandfather, Jaron, quite bitter toward the Aerie. Fala had stayed at the Aerie and served as an Eagle Rider until she became too heavy for her eagle. She then retired, claimed an acre of land next to her father's orchard and moved in with him.

  The stress between father and daughter had not been improved when she had met Peron. A Soldier of Fortune traveling with a Gipsy trader band, Peron was small, wiry and handsome. He was master of a unique fighting style. Instead of using a sword and shield, he used a long sword in his right hand and a short sword in his left. The technique was difficult to master, very deadly and used by only a few on the face of Randor. Peron was smitten by the petite, blond ex-Eagle Rider and pressed his suit with vigor. They were married against Jaron's wishes.

  The couple had been forced to live apart, however, for Peron's only skills were those of a man at arms and he joined the Home Guard in order to be near his new wife. Jaron's pear orchard was not far from the Guardsmen's Barracks and Fala had continued to live there. The birth of their only child had happened a scant ten months after their marriage. Fala had named him Kittron, after his dead uncle, in hopes that it would ease her father's animosity. As the boy began to grow up, however, she realized that his grandfather had reacted in exactly the opposite manner. The bitter memories that the boy's presence aroused in the old man fostered a cold attitude toward the lad. It was not helped when Kit's desire for a career as an Eagle Rider became apparent.

  Kit remembered fondly the trips with his mother to the Washington Aerie. They had gone often to visit with his mother's old mount, Flower, who was being used as a brood eagle by the Aerie. Kit had tested his telepathic powers on her. He was fond of scratching the back of her head and could request any number of responses from her through his telepathic commands. He was told that it took strong telepathic powers to talk to a previously impressed eagle. Daron, Washington's sandy haired Master Falconer had been surprised and pleased when he heard of it. It had been he who first had suggested that she nominate Kit as a fledgling. A nomination must be made by a parent or guardian but one suggested by the Master Falconer was sure to be successful. It was then that the boy had begun to dream.

  Flower was dead now. She had wasted away less than a month after Fala's death. Kit had been taken to see her just once by his father. He had managed to coax the eagle to take a single piece of red meat. She had picked at it in a listless manner and had devoured only half before he left.

  When his mother had died, Kit stayed with his grandfather for only a few months before it became apparent that it was not to work out. Jaron's cold manner and his attempts to avoid the grieving, young boy made life miserable for Kit. Finally, Peron came and took Kit with him to live in the Guardsmen's Barracks.

  In short order, Kit had become the unofficial mascot of the Washington Home Guard. A boy was not allowed to officially begin training as a Guardsman until the age of twelve but Kit began getting swordsmanship lessons using wooden swords at half that age. As he grew older, he began to imitate his father's fighting style, using a short sword and a long bladed knife because of his small stature. He rode his first pony only three months after coming to the barracks. The cavalrymen saw to it that his ability on horseback rivaled that of any horseman in the crater. In return, Kit performed small duties for the Guardsmen, shining armor, repairing and polishing leatherwork and running errands.

  Kit's favorite friend in the barracks outside of his father was Suron. Suron was an ex-Eagle Rider who had tried farming on his acre of land upon his retirement. His skills with the earth, however, had been too limited and he had finally sold his acre to his friend and Aerie mate, Jaron, and took up a career in the Home Guard. Because of his former service as an Eagle Rider, he had served as one of the Guard's relay messengers until old age and waning eyesight made it too difficult. His chosen weapon was the crossbow and, in spite of his poor eyesight, his skill with it was extremely good.

  Suron taught Kit to use his crossbow and the lad had practiced with it for hours on end. When the old archer was issued one of the new, more powerful, iron crossbows from Zolfon's forges, he had given his old wooden and bronze model to the lad. The weapon quickly became Kit's favorite possession.

  Kit had also learned from the old ex-Eagle Rider how to interpret and send messages through the falcons. That had been an extra duty that had naturally fallen to a former member of the Aerie. Messages could be sent from Aerie to barracks by instructing a falcon to fly there and perform a series of maneuvers, each of which had a specific meaning to those who knew. Upon his arrival at the barracks, the bird would gain Suron's attention with a loud whistle. The ex-Rider would project the word "report" and the falcon would perform his maneuvers. It didn't take long for Kit to learn to recognize all of the maneuvers and understand their meaning.

  Seven months ago, when the nomads of Ajax's tribe attempted their invasion of Washington crater, Peron and all of Kit's friends in the Guard had gone off to defend West Pass. The battle had been a fierce one and, in spite of the new iron weapons, a number of Kit's friends had perished in that battle, only to be replaced by new, younger recruits from the town. Peron had served with great distinction in that battle and earned a battlefield commission as a result. The increased pay would have allowed Kit's father to engage separate quarters but, without a wife to share them, he decided to stay in the barracks, moving into a private room with his son. Suron had, however, died in the battle and Kit missed him sorely. He practiced with the old crossbow daily, remembering the old Eagle Rider fondly with each bolt he fired.

  Now Kit was eight but the dream he had nurtured for so long was in pieces on the ground. The day before, his father had sadly told him about his discussion with Jaron. The old man had insisted that Kit's entry into the Aerie be prevented. He had threatened to break off all contact with the boy and his father if his wishes were not complied with. Kit knew that his mother would have stood firm in the face of the old man's irrational demands but in this way Peron, a courageous warrior who would never back down from a physical fight, was weak. He could not stand the thought of being denied access to Fala's grave. He had given his word to the bitter old man and Kit's future was sealed. He would probably become a Guardsman after his father but that would not officially begin for another four years.

  With a sigh, the lad jumped down from the wall and moved toward the stables nearby. It was time to saddle up his pony and head down to the town for morning classes at the Learning Hogan.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Chan was not afraid of the death that he knew was coming. The manner in which his captors would torture him did not even concern him. It was the waiting that bothered him.

  It had been six moons since his capture in the Headmaster's Hall at McAllister crater. He had come in the guise of a wild meat hunter in order to make contact with the traitor, Durabon, and coordinate the second prong of Ajax
's invasion plan. When he had arrived at the great Hall, he had been dismayed to learn that Durabon had been replaced as Headmaster the night before. His mind had worked overtime and he had managed, through a carefully constructed set of lies and disinformation, to convince the new Headmaster, Selevon, to commit his reserves to the battle at Trader's pass, leaving the real objective, East Pass, lightly defended.

  Then Nina had burst into the room, shouting a warning. Nina was an Eagle Rider who had been captured when her eagle had been shot down at Kresky crater a month or so earlier. The nomad warriors had been using her for sport when Chan had returned from his first scout of McAllister crater with the news that he had been contacted by a traitor who would help Ajax in its conquest. He had joined in the "sport" the night before making his report and had taken a strong liking for her young, hard body and sweet, pretty face. When offered a reward for his services, he had promptly asked for the "eagle girl." Just weeks before the invasion attempt, she had escaped him and fled to McAllister with a warning.

  When Chan had seen his former prisoner, he knew it was all over for him. His only thought was to strike out. Since he could not bear to attack the girl, he drew his bronze knife and struck at the new Headmaster. They had been in the process of shaking hands when he had been found out. Chan had just tightened his grip with his right hand and struck toward Selevon's heart with his left. The Headmaster had jerked away, however, and the blade had stuck hard in his right shoulder. A Home Guard Captain who had been in the room with them had come down on Chan's left forearm with the full force of his iron sword. Chan's left hand and three inches of his forearm had fallen from the knife's handle to the floor. The rest of Chan's body had been pushed to the floor and held at sword point.

  The rest of that day had passed in a cloud. The stump of the spy's arm had been cauterized and he had been marched off in the company of a squad of the Headmaster's Guards. Not far from the Headmaster's Hall, they had approached a large, private dwelling. Chan had looked up at a movement in an upper window and had stared into the eyes of the ex-Headmaster and traitor, Durabon. The detail's officer had approached and entered the house. By the time they made it up to Durabon's room, the traitor was dead, hung by his own hand.